LA Galaxy II - 7 (yes, that's Seven), Las Vegas Lights FC - 2

I know this is a few days later than usual. But in my defense, when the choice is between (a) swim and barbecue over a memorial day weekend, or (b) re-live a 7-2 shellacking by writing about it, you can kind of understand the delay.

But, as much as I think we should all just pretend it didn't happen, it did, so here are my three takeaways.

1. Free Reign in the Penalty Box

In this game, the Lights actually took almost the same number of shots that the Galaxy did (14 to 16). But, there are shots, and then there are shots, if you take my meaning. The problem this weekend was not the amount of shots that the Lights allowed, it was the quality of shots they allowed.

The worst shots to give up (and the best shots to take), are shots off the foot in the area in immediately in front of the goal - in about a semi-circle area encompassing the six yard box out to the penalty spot. These are "high-percentage" shots, meaning if you're getting a shot off from there, there's a good chance it'll hit the back of the net (at least relative to shots from other area of the field.

If you want to sum up the problem this match, look no further than this map:

The black dots are LA Galaxy II touches, while the blue dots are Lights touches. As you can see, the Lights let the Galaxy get on the ball five times in this prime area. Four of those touches were goals. (The Lights only got two touches in that area on the other side, one of which was Diego's first goal).

If you want to keep the opposition out, you can't let them pick up the ball in that zone. But that's what they did.

2. Center Back Problem?

Neither of the two Lights center backs covered themselves in any glory this match.

Usually when a goal is conceded, there are mistakes made on multiple levels (someone misplays a ball here, someone gets a bad read there). But in this game, the straight truth is that on alot of the plays, there was one glaring error that made up 90% of the mistake.

For the first goal, the LA forward (Zubak, he'll come up again), cleverly peels off of the back of our center back Jaime, who completely loses him. There are no other players close to Jaime - his one job is to keep track of Zubak, and he doesn't, and that's the first goal.

For the second, there's a breakaway - but it's being managed alright. The man with the ball is being closed down, and the runner down the middle is being tracked by Huiqui. The ball is crossed on the ground, and Huiqui is in the right spot at the right time - and makes a complete mare of the clearance. Instead of putting his foot through it, he seems to misjudge it's path, it bounces around through his legs, and get put in.

I'm really not going to go through all of the goals, but I will point to the one in the 87th minute where, again, the LA forward finds himself completely alone in the six yard box. (I mean completely, there is no Lights defender within 5 yards.

Long story short, the center backs need to be aware of the opposing forwards, and in this game, for whatever reason, our defense repeatedly lost focus.

3. Under Pressure

Before I write this section, I want to be clear - I am not calling for the coach or technical director to be fired because of this result.

But even with the benefit of a few days removal from the disappointment of the game, it does not look good.

The team just lost 7-2.

The game before that, the team lost to an amateur club that is two divisions below our own.

The results for the last nine games in all competitions reads DLDDLWLLL. The solitary win came against an amateur club.

That is all very bad. In fact, in other leagues in other countries, any one of those things standing alone could cause the coach to lost their job.

Here, of course, the Las Vegas Lights aren't Real Madrid - so nobody expects them to win every game. In that way, the management can probably consider themselves fortunate that at the end of the day, we are talking about a lower division club in the fifth most popular sport in the country (with no relegation, I might add).

So, while I don't expect the owner to start chopping heads any time soon, I do expect there to be some major changes in the roster, tactics, and lineup. Even if it's unlikely that the coach will get sacked mid-season, he needs to start turning things around if he wants to be considered as the long-term man for the job.

The Lights Remind Las Vegas How Expansion Teams Usually Work

This season, Las Vegas picked up three new professional sports teams. One of them has completely broken the curve for how an expansion team should be judged, playing way above the expectations, and overall been an enthralling team to watch.

That team is not Las Vegas Lights FC.

If any of us soccer fans were holding out hope that the Lights could replicate the Golden Knights, this week (really these last two months) have been like a cold bucket of reality being dumped over our heads.

Last night the Lights went to Golden State Force FC - an amateur team playing in effectively the fourth division of U.S. Soccer - and lost 2-1. That is bad.

To emphasize how bad - only three amateur teams have made it through this round of the Open Cup, Golden State and two others. The other two only made it because they were drawn against other amateur teams. In every other USL-amateur match-up this week, the USL team managed to get the job done. The Lights were the sole exception.

Now look, upsets happen in cup competitions. Every once in a while even a Manchester United loses to a championship team. However, it's hard to look at the Lights' recent form and think that last night's poor performance was just a blip in an otherwise upward trend. Let's look at some concerning numbers:

- Over the past five league games, the Lights are rock bottom of the Western Conference with only 2 points.
- Over the past six league games, the Lights have the same amount of red cards as they have goals (3).
- Over the past past eight games in all competitions, we have only won once, against a lower division side.
- We are dead last in the league in terms of attempted passes (2,482). And not by a small margin, the next lowest has almost 500 more attempted passes than we do.
- We are dead last in the league in terms of passing accuracy (63%). And again, not by a small margin, the next lowest is at 70%.
- This almost means we are dead last in the league in terms of completed passes (1,559).
- We are first in the league for yellow cards (33). The next closest team has 26. (We're also third in terms of total fouls and tied for second for red cards).

Now that all of that is out of the way, let me point out some green shoots that may give us some hope for the rest of the season.

First, the team probably isn't as bad as this most recent run makes them look. There are some green shoots to be seen - for example, we are above-average in terms of how many shots we've gotten off (12th, with 129) and about average in terms of goals conceded (tied for 19th with 12).

Second, our weekend league game is against LA Galaxy II. And while Los Dos has some exciting prospects (Efrain Alvarez clips have been making the rounds on twitter over the past few weeks), they are actually below us in the table having played more games. So we have a real chance to stop the rot and get some points on the board.

Third, the club seem to realize that the team needs work, as they just brought in a new defender, midfielder, and forward. You don't bring in players for all three of those positions if you are just tweaking a few things here and there. That kind of action means that the hierarchy knows that the Lights need work in multiple areas.

And finally, let's all just take a moment for a bit of perspective.

Sometimes expansion teams just click, and manage to put together a really special season. The Golden Knights of course are the example that spring to mind, but there's also the Chicago Fire, who won the MLS Cup and Open Cup double in their first season. Or even Atlanta United, who made the playoffs in their first season and really captivated the city of Atlanta (and many neutrals) by playing a really exciting brand of soccer.

But the reason those stories are so memorable is because in most cases, expansion teams struggle. For every Golden Knights, you have expansion teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who went 0-14 for the season), Minnesota United (who conceded 18 goals in their first four games) and Orlando City (who despite spending all of the money on Kaka, still haven't made the playoffs).

You don't even have to go that far afield - the other new Vegas professional team, the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, have began their life by losing their first three games (one of the them by almost a 40-point margin).

The point is, to be honest, the Lights have been outright bad over the past two months. But that is how soccer works, you go through bad runs and good runs, and most of the time expansion teams get handed more bad than good. But they don't last forever. And hopefully these transfer moves are a sign that the team is seeing the same stats we are, and have an idea of how to turn the ship around.

Here's to three points this weekend.

-VSB

USMNT Roster for May/June Friendlies - Too Much Youth? Nope.

I know this isn't about the Las Vegas Lights FC, but I heard about the U.S. roster that was announced as the USMNT prepares for the World Cup plays three friendlies, and wanted to write down a few thoughts about the team.

The full list is at the bottom, but suffice it to say that the U.S. interim coach Dave Sarachan has gone really young for these games. Like, average age of 22 years young. I'm not sure that in my recollection there has ever been a roster announced that is this young and inexperienced at the international level. In fact, the players with the most caps (20 each) are Pulisic and Joe Corona.

Here are a couple of thoughts from the announcement:

1. This Announcement isn't Completely Meaningless

Just mostly meaningless. I mean, the next "competitive" game that the U.S. will play is the opening game of the 2019 Gold Cup, which is over 12 months away. So we don't exactly have a ton of reason to play these matches other than unearthing some talent and discovering exactly what a few of our new players are capable of. On that note...

2. Coach Sarachan has 100% Made the Right Call

The only way this roster will be meaningful is to identify new talent. The roster includes a lot of players that are just breaking into the professional game - players like Tim Weah from PSG's academy, Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham's, Matthew Olosunde from Manchester United's, and Josh Sargent from Werder Bremen's.

These are not players that have seen substantial professional minutes for their clubs. A few have made the odd appearance off the bench, or from the start in rotated squads. But for the most part they are what they are - academy players. And while we are all going to get excited about them after these games, and a few will probably have hype trains a month from now with people declaring them the new American Messi, the odds are pretty good that a few of these players will just not work out, fall down the divisions, and not go on to have a long and meaningful US career.

And that's alright. These friendlies are one of the steps on the way to determining which players are going to work out, and which aren't.

3. The Lack of Experience is Not Just Ok, It's a Good Move

One of the reasons this roster is so exciting is because there were almost no "experienced heads" called in. Usually, even when experimenting with new players, the coach will call in a few regulars with the idea that they will show them the ropes, and pass on their experience to the next generation of youngsters.

Here, there are none. And here is why that is good:

First, it's questionable what kind of "experience" will get passed down. While there are probably things that the older players could teach the youngsters (like how to deal with bags of pee being thrown at them in certain central american stadiums), there are a lot of things that I would honestly be concerned about what the young players could pick up. For example, the older "experienced heads" effectively downed tools this world cup cycle away in Costa Rica. And they showed a complete lack of preparation and effort in the last game in Trinidad & Tobago. This new group of players does not need to pick up any bad habits from those particular experiences.

Second, those "experienced heads" have needed a wake up call for a long time. For a long time, certain names have been written in stone in the roster and the team sheet. It didn't matter how certain players were performing, where they were playing, or how they were played in their last match. They were not left off the roster for any reason, and some were not even benched.

Hopefully this new roster is another indicator to those players that going forward, if players are not challenging themselves and trying to improve their game, they won't be picked. Hopefully those players get the message that the failure to qualify will have real consequences to their own personal careers - and if they want to get more caps for their country, they are going to have to show why they deserve it.

Las Vegas 0 - Real Monarchs 2: Humbling Defeat Shows that Las Vegas has Work to Do

Las Vegas falls 0-2 at home to Real Monarchs in a game that reveals that Las Vegas has some lessons to learn if they want to follow the example of the town's other new sports franchise and make a splash in their opening season.

Here are three thing we learned from this one:

1.  A Word for Experience

This was the Las Vegas Lights' ninth regular season game (and only their tenth professional match in all competitions). By contrast, this was the Monarchs' 100th regular season match. The team has been around for a while, and it showed in the game - they were able to jump out to an early lead, and then were confident in knowing how to manage the rest of the game to ensure the three points.

Though Las Vegas does have experienced individuals (like Huiqui), they are not yet an experienced team. Take the first goal, for example. The ball was played out to the right back Jaime when there really wasn't any options available to him. He was put under a little bit of pressure, and correctly opted to go back to the goalie, but was just a little bit to slow to get the pass off and the forward just got a toe in. At the same time, the center back assumed that Jaime was just going to take care of it, so he was a second too slow in covering for him, and allowed Velasquez to get goal side.

It's a game of fine margins - just few seconds off, and all of a sudden you're a goal down. Hopefully as the Lights get more familiar with their teammates, they will cut out those mistakes.

2. Open Cup Goals Don't Translate to USL Goals

In midweek, the Lights managed to put 4 goals past FC Tucson to win their U.S. Open Cup match. The positive attacking play brought some of us some hope that the team could bring that same firepower to bear in the league, where to be honest, we have been struggling to put the ball in the net.

Unfortunately, it looks like there is a reason that FC Tucson plays in a division below ours. When the opposing defense stepped up a level in quality yesterday evening, it completely shut down our attack.

3. Goals Change Games

Now I know what you are thinking after that last sentence - but wait, we weren't completely shut down. And of course, as an intelligent observer of soccer, you are to an extent correct - statistically, the Lights had 60% of the possession, and outshot the Monarchs 26 to 8.

But this is one of those times were the stats don't tell the whole story.

Do you remember the USA vs Ghana game in the 2014 World Cup? Clint Dempsey scored within the first minute or so to give the US an early lead, Ghana equalized late, and Brooks turned in a header at the end to win the game. Anyways, the stats from that game look incredibly similar to the Lights-Monarchs game: Ghana had 61% possession and outshot the Lights 21 to 8. Were they better than us? Almost certianly not - they flamed out of the world cup that year with a single point.

The reason they statistically dominated that game was because the U.S. scored early, and had something to defend. We didn't have to attack anymore - so we didn't. Ghana really needed to attack, so they did.

We saw the same thing play out in the Lights-Monarchs game. The Monarchs jumped out to an early lead, and then doubled their advantage only 20 minutes into the game. After that, they didn't really need to attack anymore, so they let the Lights try to break them down.

And to be brutally honest, though we had a lot more shots, none of them (aside from the Ochoa lob that came off the crossbar late on) were really good chances; they kind of just kept us at arm's length for the remainder of the match. I'm not sure any Monarchs fans ever really had their hearts in their mouths.

The good news is that once again, we have a chance to forget our league form as we hit the road to face another lower division side, the Golden State Force, on Wednesday.

Here's to another 4-2 victory then.

-VSB

U.S. Open Cup - Lights vs Tucson - Things to Know

The Lights prepare to play FC Tucson in the U.S. Open Cup this Wednesday night. It is (sort of) a home game, in that it is taking place at UNLV's field instead of the usual venue at Cashman (I'm guessing because the 51s play the day before and it's too quick of a turnaround to get the grass laid, but I'm not really sure).

I'm not going to sit here and pretend I knew the first thing about FC Tucson before I just spent a few minutes googling them. But I will share my now-vast knowledge with you:

They play in the PDL (Premier Development League), which is essentially the U.S.'s version of division three soccer, which means they are one division below us. They are a semi-pro team that was recently purchased and is now a farm team for Phoenix's USL team. They seem to be quite good in their division - but keep in mind that the teams in their division include other semi-pro teams, including U-23 academy teams from MLS clubs, and even amateur teams. For example, one of the teams in FC Tucson's division is the BYU Cougars - which most of you will probably recognize is a college club team.

My point is, Las Vegas should be winning this game. True, we will probably see a rotated side, as the Lights have a league game this weekend to worry about. But regardless of rotation, the Lights should have the talent to win this game.

In a way, this is the perfect opportunity for the Lights to break their 5-game winless run, and build some momentum for the league.

While a win Wednesday wouldn't improve out league position, in a weird way, U.S. Open Cup games are almost more (ok maybe equally) important. For most teams, both in Europe and here in the U.S., the clubs in the top division frequently turn up their nose at cup competitions. Teams rotate heavily, sometimes to the point where they are accused of throwing the game, because the fact is that at the top level, there re bigger fish to fry.

We, however, are not at the top level. And the fact is that for USL clubs like ourselves, if we make a deep run in the U.S. Open Cup, it could work wonders for the club's prestige (though not necessarily the finances - the winners get $250,000, which would be a decent chunk for a club our size, but certainly wouldn't launch us into a new stratosphere). The point is that if you asked your standard American MLS fan, they would probably not be able to tell you who won the USL trophy last year. But I bet a fair few of them would be able to tell you that FC Cincinnati knocked out an MLS team in the Open Cup.

Now, we are a long way from any rounds that would give us an opportunity to do that, but you have to take your first step, and for the Lights, that comes on Wednesday against FC Tucson.

So here's to a win, some momentum for the weekend, and who knows, maybe even a chance to pull off an upset somewhere down the line.

-VSB

Colorado Springs Switchbacks 1 - Las Vegas Lights FC 0 - Three Things from a Disappointment at Altitude

The Lights fell to a one-nil defeat away from home in Colorado Springs this evening. It was a disappointing defeat, and not just because that makes it only 3 points from their last 5 games.

Here are three takeaways from the match:

1. You Miss 100% of the Shots You Don't Take (and 90% of the Shots You Do)

The real disappointment from this evening doesn't just come from the run of bad results - those happen - but from the lack of threat from the attack. At no point this evening did the Lights really trouble the Colorado Springs keeper.

In fact, if Colorado Springs had chosen to play an inanimate carbon rod in goal this evening, they still would have gotten a draw.

That's because despite taking an acceptable (but not great) 9 shots tonight, the Lights could only get 1 of those on target. So in spite of the fact that the Lights more or less matched Colorado Springs for possession, it really never felt like a goal was coming.

2.  Forwards with a Night to Forget

As mentioned above, the Lights attack really didn't have their shooting boots on this evening. One player that will want to forget this evening as soon as possible is Sammy Ochoa, who led the line.

He cut a particularly frustrated figure up front, always trying to get involved, but with nothing ever really coming off for him. He had one or two looks at goal, and wasn't quite able to make them count. Otherwise, his touch let him down a bit, and he was unable to really influence the game (though to be fair to him, he was not given great service by his midfield, and had to more or less feed on scraps).

The moment that will haunt him, however, was late in the second half. The Lights swung in a dangerous corner kick, and Garduno did a beautiful job of getting free and getting a header. It looked like it was going into the far corner, with the keeper beaten.

Unfortunately, that's where Ochoa had gambled and made his run. He was unable to adjust to the ball, and ended up doing Colorado Springs a favor by clearing it off of their line.

Again, to be fair, the ball came in pretty hot, and there wasn't a whole lot of time to react and adjust his body out of the way. But that's not going to stop him from thinking about it for a few days.

3.  Ferriño and the Defense Could Only do So Much

In the end, the winning goal for Colorado Springs came off of a bit of a fortunate bounce inside our box. Their forward tried to dribble our defender (Garduno I think) in the middle of our penalty box, and Garduno was able to get a touch to the ball. Unfortunately, it deflected right back off of the Colorado Springs striker and popped out into the forward's path almost perfectly for him to poke home.

It was unfortunate, but to be honest, the goal had been in the post for a long time. It came not too long after Colorado Springs had a string of about 5 corner kicks in a row. And throughout the night, the defense (and Ferriño in particular) were kept really busy putting out fires. The keeper earned his salary with a few important saves and clearances (and we kind of avoided a goal earlier when Ferriño really sold a "foul" and the referee bought it).

So, despite the unlucky bounce, the fact remains that if you let the opposition spend enough time in your attacking third, and let them get the ball in your box too often, eventually something is going to go against you.

The Lights now get to come home, sort of, as they will be facing Tucson in the Open Cup at UNLV's soccer field on Saturday.

Let's hope we can get back to winning ways.

Las Vegas Lights FC 1 - Tulsa 1: Three Things from Cinco de Mayo

Las Vegas picked up another draw this week, this time at home to Tulsa.

Alvarez picked up an early headed goal, and we almost made it to halftime in the lead - but a well taken goal from UNLV alum Joaquin Rivas hurt his former hometown with a goal right before halftime. Here are three things from the game:

1. Not a Good Draw

Context is everything. Monday, the Lights picked up a point on the road against a great team, while playing the majority of the game down to 10 men. That was a good point. We have to be happy with that.

Saturday, the Lights picked up a point at home, in a crowded stadium, against a team below us in the table, while playing even-handed for most of the match. That is a bad point. We really should have done better and picked up all three.

2. Goals from Open Play

That isn't to say that there weren't positives to be taken - it's just that we have to look a little deeper than the points on the board.

One thing that I found really positive is that Alvarez's goal was created from open play. The Lights have picked up a lot of their goals this season (and preseason) from set pieces - whether that be corner kicks (like Huiqui's recent early goal), long throws, penalties or free kicks (like Alvarez's beauty in pre-season). And while all goals are great, and set pieces are frequently under-utilized in soccer, I'm not going to pretend I wasn't a little concerned that none of our goals seemed to come from moves in the open field.

Not so Saturday. Alvarez's opener came from a great combination of quick passes in the middle of the field - Ochoa then sprayed it wide to Diaz, who played a great one-time cross that was finished off by Alvarez, who had ghosted in front of his marker to head home.

It wasn't our only open play move of the night either - a few minutes before a great counter resulted in  point-blank shot that was saved by the Tulsa GK, and late on Alvarez almost restored the lead after a great pass and dribble.

That is the kind of soccer that people will pay to watch, and I hope we get to see more of it as our attackers become more familiar with each other.

3. The Refs... Kind of Balanced Out

Looking at just the box score, you'd be forgiven for thinking "Oh great, another red card, the Lights really need to reign themselves in." And yes, that is probably true overall - we are one of the fouliest teams in the league (2nd most fouls with 129, most yellow cards with 27), our captain will miss next game because he has already accumulated 5 yellow cards in just seven games, and our manager is currently serving a seven-game ban for "brief contact" with an official.

But that really wasn't the story tonight. Matt Thomas did get a red card in the 72nd minute, but it was one of the harshest reds you'll ever see. He came in to challenge the ball, and yes, he was late and shouldn't have lunged in, but it probably wasn't even a yellow card offense, much less a straight red.

But, on the other hand, the referee also bailed us out late on. Tulsa had the ball in the back of the net, but after a long deliberation with the linesman, the center ref ruled it out for offside. The replay is a bit inconclusive, but in real time the Tulsa player looked on to me.

So on the night, we got a harsh red card, but on the other hand, we got a bit fortunate with what could have been a late winner for Tulsa. So on balance, I'm not going to waste any time complaining (unlike Monday's offside against us, which I feel perfectly entitled to complain about).

So overall, a bit of a disappointing cinco de mayo, luchador masks aside, but at least it wasn't a loss.

Let's hope for a better result against Colorado Springs on Friday.

-VSB

10 Man Las Vegas Snatches Road Point Against Real Monarchs

The Lights, playing with 10 men for over 70 minutes, somehow managed to pull off a 0-0 draw and grab a valuable road point in Utah last night.

Here's three things from the game:

1.  The Monarchs Set Out A Really Strong Side

Let's say it outright - the Monarchs are a really good team. They finished with the highest points total in the league last season. They were at home. And not only that, but as an MLS affiliate side, they have the ability to drop in MLS players from their Real Salt Lake team whenever they need to build up some match sharpness. Last night, the Monarchs fielded MLS regular Luke Mulholland in midfield, which made a challenging evening for Las Vegas just that little bit tougher.

And yet despite the strength of the opposition, and the early red card, the Lights still managed to get a point on the road. It was a really good result, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

2.  The Red Card May Have Helped, In A Weird Way

As I talked about last post, in the Friday night game against San Antonio, the visitors got their win by taking the Lights out of their comfort zone, giving up the ball and forcing the Lights to try to break them down. The Lights are much more comfortable as a defend-and-counter team, and struggled to cope with the responsibility of playing a possession game.

Last night, on the road against a good side, the Lights were always going to play a counter attacking game. But with the early red card, the game plan became even more clear.

Of course, a red card, especially within the first 20 minutes of a game, is never a good thing. But in this case, I don't think it hurt as much as we might have assumed. Once the Lights went a man down, everyone on the field knew that they had one job - keep the Monarchs from scoring. If the team found themselves in a decent counter-attacking position, they could see what happens. But there was no question of committing numbers forward or attempting to outplay the Monarchs. It clearly focused the minds of the players, who put in a defensive masterclass to keep the clean sheet and eventually win the point.

3.  Could We Have Gotten More?

As the second half died down, the Lights found themselves in one of those rare moments of attack. A ball was played out to Drake on the right hand side, who tried to cross it in. The cross was deflected, but it fell to Kobayashi about 25 yards out, who curled a beautiful strike that cannoned off the right hand post and across the goal. On hand was another Lights player (I think Ochoa, I couldn't really see), who stooped and put the ball into the net - only for the referee to flag for offside.

Now, we don't get the greatest angles on streams of USL matches. But take a look at this screenshot and tell me that there isn't at least one Monarchs guy playing our striker onside. 

That said, while we can definitely have some gripes about that particular offside call and wish we could have completed the perfect snatch-and-grab - at the end of the day, in a game where the Monarchs completely dominated with 70% possession, over twice as many passes and over twice as many shots, you can't be too disappointed to come away with a point.

Our next match is is back at home this Saturday in a cinco de mayo clash against Tulsa. Let's hope we can pick up all three points then.

- VSB